Alex was startled awake by some beast crashing its way toward the camp. Taking the stave that Vincent had made, Alex decided to see who it was himself. While not straying too far away from the firelight, Alex advanced to see what was coming. To his surprise, laying on the ground was a young white ferret of about 10 seasons old. He had no weapons, no food, and his clothes were tattered. He looked hungry as if he hadn't eaten a proper meal for days if not weeks. Alex knew that in the Redwall books, most vermin were terrible thieves, tricksters, and killers. But there were some good ones too. Some that came to Alex's mind were: Blaggut, Crumdum, Wulpp, and truth be told Dingeye & Thura probably would have been better creatures if they had just owned up to their mistakes. He also remembered that Martin had told him not to be judgemental. And so,with all of this in mind, he went to wake Vincent and told him of the young ferret collapsed nearby. Vincent, unlike most of his kind who believed that the only good vermin was a dead vermin, saw the young one and instantly felt sorry for him.
"Let's get him over by the fire. We can make a broth from some of my supplies."
And that's what they did. Vincent added more wood to the fire, and started making a vegetable broth. The fire warmed the young ferret up. The sight of the hare and what appeared to be a furless mouse startled him and David was at first afraid. But when Vincent explained what they were trying to do, he relaxed. And after being fed some broth, David told them his story.
His name was David Loosepaw. He had lived on the northern coast with his parents. His parents had been fisherbeasts. Unfortunately, one day about two weeks ago, a terrible storm struck while his parents were out on their boat trying to catch some grayling. The storm had come so unexpectedly that his parents had no time to make it back to shore. And for last couple of weeks he had been living off of the edible food he could find that wasn't poisonous. He was trying to find his way to Redwall and ask if they would take him in and give him shelter.
Alex and Vincent felt sorry for David, who - like them - was trying to get a better handle on his life. Vincent promised to take him along to the abbey and care for him. Alex was of like mind, but wondered what the abbey dwellers would think of the young ferret.
Despite the excitement of everything that had happened David was having a hard time getting to sleep.
"I haven't had a good night sleep since my parents passed away." He said sadly, his eyes glittering in the fire light.
Alex sympathetically sighed. "You miss them huh?"
David nodded and starts to sing while, in his little ferret mind, imagining he was back home with his parents.
"When the sun went down and everyone was sleeping,
and my parents were both sleeping,
if I heard a sound like things around me creeping,
my parents would comfort me,
and tell me 'don't be scared'
and I knew that I was safe because...
they're always there."
Alex and Vincent join in, quietly singing with the ferret.
"Always there, someone you can count on to comfort you.
Always there like a red stoned abbey would be welcomed into."
Vincent took a verse and in his mind he was back at Salamandastron, a hare of about 6 seasons old. Beside him was a female hare, light brown color, looking comfortingly at him while a storm ravages outside.
"When the storms would come,
and things would seem so bad.
.and I'd wanna cry...almost...
I'd listen to my mom.
She promised that the rain would pass
the day would soon be fair
and I never was afraid
because she's always there."
The chorus was repeated and Alex took a verse while recalling his mother's death, and the last things she said to him at the time he was only 10 years old. Following Vincent's lead, he put the words into a song as well.
"I remember now like it was yesterday
she would hold me close and then I'd heard her say,
you know I'll never leave you, you can find me everywhere
in the morning light, the evening star
I'm always there."
The chorus was repeated one more time and David and Vincent fell asleep. Alex tried to stand guard but not used to staying up this late, he also fell asleep only a half hour later.
The next morning he receives a rude awakening when a gruff voice jolted him awake from his dreams: "What are you doing in GUOSIM territory?! And why do you have a VERMIN with you?!"
Alex woke up to see a small but fierce looking shrew glaring down at him. Vincent was knocked out, presumably by the shrews for having a ferret in his company. And poor David was tied up and very much frightened.
The shrew stood over him, paws on his hips, and spoke: "I am Flugg Longblade, the second in command of the GUOSIM. Pray, who and what are you?"
Author's note: The song is adapted from land before time 5 mysterious island "always there"
First song was Something Better from Muppet Treasure Island.